Tag Archives: Southgate ARC

Danish Shortwave Club International’s domestic shortwave station list

RSGB and WWII Voluntary Interceptors

WWII role of the RSGB and Voluntary Interceptors

A new RSGB web page highlights the role of Voluntary Interceptors in the Second World War and the crucial involvement of the Society

At the outbreak of WWII in 1939 MI5 established a unit known as the Radio Security Service (RSS) to detect and monitor enemy radio transmissions. The RSGB were approached to help pick and recruit radio amateurs with advanced Morse skills. These volunteers became known as the Voluntary Interceptors.

Read the RSGB story at
http://rsgb.org/main/about-us/national-radio-centre-gb3rs/the-role-of-the-rsgb-and-voluntary-interceptors/

The former President of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society, Harry Heap G5HF (SK), was a Voluntary Interceptor, further information at
http://g0mwt.org.uk/society/g5hf-sk/g5hf.htm

Click here to read at the Southgate ARC.

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CATSync: A new tool to control WebSDRs with your tabletop radio

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

Introducing CATSync – The new CAT tool for WebSDRs

Oscar, DJ0MY, has developed a new software tool for radio amateurs and SWLs.

CATSync allows the user to control public WebSDR receivers with a real rig connected via CAT. It supports the classical Web-SDR servers as well as the newer Kiwi SDR servers publically available on the internet.

This gives you access to dozens of web based receivers with the comfort of tuning your rig at home. This software helps you to bring you back into the fun of ham radio when you are suffering from local temporary or permanent high noise levels in an urban QTH location.

The software has the following features:

Synchronizes any public WebSDR server with your real RIG…

Supports a wide number of RIG’s (it uses the popular OmniRig engine)

Supports WebSDR and KiwiSDR browser based SDR receivers

Tune the VFO of your radio and see the web SDR follow in real time !

Switch modes (SSB, CW, etc.) on your radio and see the web SDR switch mode in real time.

Listen to the same frequency as your rig via web SDR

Ideally suited e.g. for people suffering from local QRM

Can track RX or TX VFO (e.g. to find that split of a DX station) if radio CAT supports both simultaneously

Can be interfaced with popular logging software using OminRig or via VSPE port splitter

For more information visit the author’s website: https://catsyncsdr.wordpress.com/

See a YouTube video of CATSync under: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSHfkjhx0c

Click here to read the full article on the Southgate ARC.

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The HF Voyager: Make contact with an “autonomous ocean-going drone”

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The HF Voyager (Source: JRF Amateur Radio Club)

(Source: Southgate ARC)

David, AA6YQ, author of DXLab – ‘Better DXing Through (Free) Software’, posted the following: ‘Jupiter Research Foundation Amateur Radio Club (JRFARC) has integrated an HF transceiver with an autonomous ocean-going drone. Our mission is to deploy a ham radio station that roams the world’s oceans while providing an opportunity for amateur radio operators everywhere to make contacts with rare locations.’

“We sent this new Voyager out to the open ocean on its way to California on January 15th, 2018 as a passenger on the JRF HUMPACs mission. As they search for ‘missing’ humpback whales, JRF’s pilots will guide HF Voyager to sections of the Equatorial North Pacific that are not normally available to ham operators. The station will use FT8 and PSK-31 on the 20 meter band as its primary operating modes. You may also find it using WSPR in times of poor propagation.”

See http://www.jrfarc.org/hf-voyager/

The portal in http://hfvportal.jrfarc.org/ takes a minute or two to display data.

The club plans to give a certificate of recognition to operators world-wide that have a confirmed contact with the HF Voyager. In the future we hope to collaborate with Amateur Radio organizations and publishers to sponsor operating events and contests for HF Voyager contact milestones.

Gridsquare collectors, maritime operating fans, Islands on the Air participants, and all other hams interested in this unique opportunity to make a contact with an autonomous roving maritime station should find this to be an exciting new aspect of their favorite hobby.

Be sure to check out our HF Voyager Blog for updates and schedules:
http://www.jrfarc.org/hf-voyager-updates

I think this is a pretty fascinating project–especially if the system can withstand the rigors of ocean travel and can be tracked and picked up later for replacement and upgrades.

I had never spent much time on the HF digital modes until last year when I caught the FT8 bug. While FT8 lacks some of the social nuances of, say SSB voice and CW, it is a fascinating mode that seems to defy HF propagation rules. It’s certainly an accessible way to work HF stations across the globe with a very modest setup. I think it’s an ideal pairing for a project like the HF Voyager.

Even if you don’t have a ham radio license, with an HF receiver and a free PC application, you can receive/decode FT8 contacts from across the globe.

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Vernal equinox ‘cracks’ in Earth’s magnetic field

Solar Minimum: A “relatively large” sunspot makes appearance

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(Image: spaceweather.com)

(Source: Southgate ARC)

With Solar Minimum right around the corner, sunspot counts are at an almost 10-year low. So it came as a surprise yesterday when a relatively large sunspot emerged near the sun’s eastern limb.

AR2699 has a primary dark core larger than Earth with many smaller magnetic condensations trailing behind it, in all stretching more than 75,000 km across the sun’s surface.

Rare “solar minimum sunspots” are capable of intense explosions just like sunspots during more active phases of the solar cycle.

Visit Spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

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Make your own 3-D printed crystal radio

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

Did you know you can build your very own working 3D-printed radio – without any soldering, electronics experience, electric cord, or even batteries?

Digital Trends reports that’s exactly what talented Houston, Texas-based 3D-printing and electronics enthusiast Sage Hansen has created. And he’s willing to show you how to do it, too.

Called a crystal radio receiver, or sometimes a “cat’s whisker receiver,” this is an incredibly simple type of radio receiver that was popular in the earliest days of radio. The only power it requires to work is the received radio signal, which is used to produce sound. It is named after its most important component, the crystal detector or diode.

“AM radio was one of the first ways of transmitting audio to a very broad audience in the early 1900s, but it is still very popular today,” Hansen told Digital Trends. “It starts with the radio station converting their audio sound waves into electromagnetic waves, which can travel great distances.

Each radio station uses a specific frequency that is constant, but the sound waves are mixed so they amplify and modulate the base radio wave. What makes the crystal radio so exciting is how simple the circuit is, and how it can be made out of normal household items.